“So, Doctor, do you think I’m sick?”
Homelander’s question was like a poisoned dagger pressed against Lynn’s throat.
The air in the entire room seemed to freeze.
This was a life-or-death question.
Saying he was sick would be directly denying his “divinity,” and he would die.
Saying he wasn’t sick would make Homelander immediately dismiss him as just another boring, sycophantic waste of space—and he would still die.
The only path to survival was a third answer.
As the heavy doors slowly shut behind him, Lynn’s brain whirred at an unprecedented speed.
He looked into Homelander’s seemingly friendly but utterly cold blue eyes and spoke calmly, “You aren’t sick.”
The corners of Homelander’s mouth curled up slightly, seemingly satisfied with this response.
But Lynn’s next words made his smile freeze.
“You don’t need a doctor.” Lynn looked straight at him, pronouncing each word clearly.
“What you need is… someone who actually understands you.”
Meanwhile, in the secret monitoring room on the top floor of the Vought Tower.
Ashley and a group of high-level security executives were staring intently at the screens.
Every single movement of Lynn and Homelander was being clearly captured, with various physiological data flashing rapidly in the corner.
“What is he saying? Is he insane?” one executive cried out upon hearing Lynn’s answer.
“He’s implying that Homelander has issues!”
“It’s over. This one’s going to end up in the ICU too,” another groaned, covering his face in despair.
Ashley was so tense she could barely breathe.
She gripped her communicator tightly, her finger hovering over the emergency button, ready for Homelander’s potential rampage.
However, on the screen, Homelander did not fly into a rage as they expected.
He smiled, but there was a hint of amusement in it.
“Oh? Understand me?”
Homelander slowly stood up, his towering figure casting a massive shadow over Lynn.
He stepped forward, pacing around Lynn like a graceful, deadly lion.
He walked very slowly, deliberately closing the distance until his ear was almost pressed against Lynn’s chest.
“Your heart is beating very fast, Doctor,” Homelander whispered, his lips curling into a cruel smirk.
“You’re afraid.”
“Yes, I am afraid,” Lynn did not deny it.
In front of a monster capable of tearing an airplane apart with his bare hands, any attempt at concealment would be foolish.
He met Homelander’s gaze directly.
“For any normal human, when facing a superhero who can effortlessly bring down a building, an accelerated heart rate is the most basic physiological response. That isn’t fear. It’s awe.”
“Awe?” Homelander stopped, standing before Lynn and looking down at him imperiously.
“So you fear me?”
“No.” Lynn shook his head, his tone resolute and unquestionable.
“What I fear is that if I say the wrong thing, I’ll cause you to lose a… true listener, the likes of whom you haven’t encountered in decades.”
In the monitoring room, there was dead silence.
Ashley and all the executives stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
“My god… How… how does he dare say that?”
“Is he playing mind games with Homelander? Does he have a death wish?” a security chief muttered.
In his ten years on the job, he had never seen anyone dare talk to Homelander this way.
On the screen, the oppressive expression on Homelander’s face indeed underwent a subtle shift.
He loved being worshiped, but the monotonous, repetitive praise had long since bored him.
Lynn’s words, however, accurately struck the chord of his deep-seated desire to be “unique.”
For the first time, he felt a spark of genuine interest in this new doctor.
Homelander sat back down on the sofa, relaxing his posture, and tilted his chin toward Lynn.
“Alright, a very interesting way of putting it. Have a seat, then, and let me hear what insights you have to share with this ‘listener’ of yours.”
Lynn’s heart settled slightly; he knew he had made the right gamble on his first step.
He sat on the opposite sofa, maintaining a professional and detached distance.
“First of all, you are no ordinary superhero,” Lynn began, first sugarcoating things to align with Homelander’s self-perception.
“You are Vought International’s most core asset, America’s totem of faith, and a god looked up to by hundreds of millions of people. Every single smile of yours can affect Vought’s stock price, and every rescue you perform solidifies the public’s confidence.”
Hearing this, the smile on Homelander’s face became much more genuine.
He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being elevated to the clouds.
In the monitoring room, Ashley and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good. He finally knows what to say.”
“It seems he just wanted to make a striking entrance, and now he’s back on track.”
Yet, just as the words left their mouths, Lynn’s tone suddenly shifted.
“But precisely because of that,” Lynn’s gaze sharpened, “you cannot have emotions, you cannot make mistakes, and you can’t even get angry as you please.”
“When an ordinary person gets angry, it’s at most an emotional breakdown.
But when you get angry, John,” Lynn called him by his name for the first time, “it’s called a national-level PR disaster.”
The name “John” was like a needle that punctured the perfect mask on Homelander’s face.
His smile instantly faded.
Lynn didn’t stop.
He knew he had to strike while the iron was hot.
“Vought International brought me here—do you really think they care about your mental health?” Lynn leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice in a captivating manner.
“No, they don’t care.”
“They are simply afraid. Afraid that your accumulated stress and anger will completely erupt one day, right in front of live global cameras.”
“They are afraid of you showing… who you truly are, hidden beneath that star-spangled cape.”
This sentence was like a precise scalpel, slicing open the reality Homelander was most reluctant to face.
He had always carried himself as Vought’s god, enjoying this supreme status.
Yet Lynn ruthlessly reminded him: you are no god; you are merely Vought International’s most expensive, and most dangerous, commodity!
*Buzz—*
In Lynn’s mind, the clear chime of the system rang out.
[Detected: Target Homelander’s emotions are fluctuating violently!]
[Defense-Break Points +50!]
[Beginner Quest Progress: 50%]
It worked!
Lynn was overjoyed inwardly, but outwardly he remained unperturbed.
He knew it was far too early to celebrate.
Sure enough, the friendliness and warmth had vanished from Homelander’s blue eyes, replaced by a cold, scrutinizing glare.
He stared intently at Lynn, as if trying to see right through him, inside and out.
After a long silence, he suddenly let out a soft chuckle, one carrying a dangerous undertone.
“Doctor, you have far more courage than I imagined.”
Homelander leaned forward, resting his clasped hands on his knees, his gaze burning like fire.
“Then what do you think ‘the real me’ is like?”